What Can A Diabetic Truck Driver Eat On The Road?

[Staceyy]

My dh who is a truck driver was just diagnosed with diabetes. I was diagnosed last year. His blood sugar level at the time of diagnosis was 580. He is taking glucophage. He is having a very hard time with his diet as he is on the road all the time and is not getting much variety. He generally stops at a 7-11 in the morning for coffee. He used to get donuts with his coffee, but that of course is out now. He's tried stopping at fast food places but they mainly offer biscuit or croissant sandwiches and he would like to stay away from the bread.

For lunch, I told him to get chili, a salad or wrap sandwiches. I told him to snack on hard boiled eggs if he can find them, nuts or pork skins.

For dinner I suggested he eat a salad, or meat, perhaps fish and a green vegetable and a salad. He is losing weight too rapidly and is hungry all the time and frustrated. Please offer suggestions as to what else he can eat. Thanks.

[sweetcheeks]

being on the road he going to be very limited to what he can eat... but if he's around a sonic drive in

he can get breakfast wraps, with scrambled eggs, cheese, and a choice of meat, bacon, ham or sausage.

he might be able to get the same thing maybe at waffle house or huddle houses..... they have breakfast anytime of the day.
or even cracker barrel, maybe bob evans might have some good breakfast without all the carbs.

eggs, meats litterally have no carbs.......... therefor he should eat more of those if at all possible.


and he doesnt have to eat the normal breakfast dishes either, if he'd rather have a dinnertime meal for breakfast, no harm in that either



peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is also a possiblity diet jelly of course

[duck]

Hard-boiled eggs are literally one of those things you call can make yourself and pack easily--buy a thermal lunch box and some ice packs. Also, beef jerky comes in very handy in those 'need a low-carb snack' scenarios...

[Cyborg]

Meat and salad (and some veggies).

If type 1, remember to bolus for your protein!

[ladytaz]

At the truck stops that have the restraunts, he can have salads from the salad bar (I know most of the one's I've been to have salad bars, like the TA's - my hubs is a truck driver too) Steaks, Chicken (preferably roasted), Pork. All these things are carb free (or SHOULD be, as long as they aren't breaded or battered in any way). Eggs as was mentioned as well. Heck, even McDonalds has those breakfast burritos! Chicken Nuggets! WITHOUT sauce ... you'd be surprised that they actually have LESS carbs than a hamburger, even if they are breaded! If there isn't a great selection, and a burger joint is all he has to choose from, just get the burger, and take off one half of the bun. This can be done with the croissant and biscuit breakfasts too!

Good Luck to him!

[someone]

Don't these fast food places have salads?

[ladytaz]

some do. but sometimes they've also been sitting around for HOURS and area all soggy and gross! eW. I'd have to look at it first BEFORE I bought it! ;)

[kgm0612]

Have him pick up a couple boxes of the South Beach Protein Bars to have on hand.

Other snacks..........apples, pears, carrot or celery sticks, almonds, walnuts, peanut butter crackers. He could keep a loaf of whole wheat bread and a jar of peanut butter in his truck.

McDonald's has a delicious salad with grilled chicken. Their 6 piece chicken nuggets contain 15g of carbs. I've ordered scrambled eggs and bacon (no hash browns) for breakfast.

Karen

[bryan42]

BEEF JERKY!!!!!! I just happen to sell the WORLDS BEST!!

[princesslinda]

I go through the drive thru at McDonalds and get an order of eggs and an order of bacon....no biscuit...they will do this. Also Krystal has a low carb scrambler bowl with eggs, cheese and bacon or sausage. Also, I really enjoy the S. Beach cereal bars....have these for b/fast as well. Also, EAS Carb control shakes don't have to be refrigerated...they can be found at Walmart or any pharmacy and come in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mocha and are quite good.

I have no problem blood-sugar wise having a Taco Bell bean burrito...I have them add S. cream, lettuce and cheese to it and it's quite filling. Wendy's Chicken nuggets also have minimal effect on my blood sugar (though they are fattening, i'm sure). I also love nuts or pork rinds. He could keep a jar of p/butter in his truck and have a spoonful as a snack.

[Staceyy]

Wow! Thanks! Please keep the suggestions coming. Dh is a type 2 diabetic. He sleeps in motels and therefore is not at a truck stop in the morning. Most of the motels offer breakfast but the food is mainly all carbs. Once in a while they'll offer a hot breakfast with bacon and eggs but not too often. Occasionally they'll offer hardboiled eggs in the breakfast room of the motel. At the time of diagnosis he had been stopping at a 7-11 each morning and buying coffee with 2 sugars and 4 donuts! I had been yelling at him all along telling him he was abusing his pancreas but he continued to do so until he was diagnosed. Now he is putting Splenda in his coffee and he is not eating donuts but stays hungry and grouchy. He is 6'4" and weighs 240 lbs. He knows he needs to lose weight but he always feels now like he's starving.

Oh, I also told him he could buy low carb bars and shakes for snacks.

[princesslinda]

I try to avoid snacks as much as possible, as i'm trying to lose weight....I think he should eat enough protein and he'd feel full from meal to meal...i've read it takes 4 hrs for your food to totally digest and after that your body will burn your own fat for fuel...I try to make sure there's at least 4-5 hrs between times that I eat...sometimes, I get really hungry and can't do it, but I try. S/F jello is a good snack alternative though.

You might think about getting him one of the cooler/fridges that plugs into the cigarette lighter where he could keep some healthy items like cheese, meats, apples, and diet drinks.

[notme]

The one thing he needs to consider is he may get his blood sugar under control but end up with high cholesterol if he eats eggs and bacon daily. My suggestion would be for breakfast 1/2 banana or apple, yogurt, wheat bread with peanut butter and sugar free jelly at least three days out of the week. Anything that is sprouted wheat is lower on the glycemic index. Snacking on raw nuts like almonds, or rye crisp crackers with cheese. Keep diet snapple iced tea or flavored water with him when he is thirsty. Lunches could be salad, tuna on whole wheat, turkey and cheese sandwiches on whole wheat. You can stop at most grocery stores and they offer sandwich counters.

Diabetes just means we have to eat the way God intended. Whole natural foods are your husbands best friend. Exercise is important and I know that will be hard for your husband to do since he is driving so much. Exercise will lower your husbands blood sugar when his blood sugar is high.

Good luck. It sounds like you both are motivated to be healthy.

[sweetcheeks]

mentioning taco bell, i live off taco bell three times a week...

i get 2 chicken gordita supremes leave everything on it, comes with lettuce, tom, sour cream, cheese and of course the chicken. if you get two of those, its only around 600 calories, and 54 carbs for the whole meal!

Sometimes if im in the store and not thru drive thru, then ill order the chicken ranchero taco's but leave off the ranchero sauce, and i usually get three of these, which equal around 650 calories.

Just because its fast food doesnt mean its not healthy...

i also love the sonic grilled chicken sandwiches, and i usually get tator tots but only eat half of those. and a DIET CHERRY LIMEADE! yummmmy, about 650 calories and about 50 carbs or so. EVEN WITH THE WHOLE BUN! (but i think there made different every where you go, some use smaller buns and some use bigger ones)

[notme]

Stacey, 600 calories is VERY high calories for one meal especially when there are 24 grams of fat. Most of your calories are coming from fat.

Here is a very good site for looking at calories and fat for fast food. http://www.drgourmet.com/health/fastfood/pdf/fastfoodnutrition.pdf

[princesslinda]

[QUOTE=notme;222841]The one thing he needs to consider is he may get his blood sugar under control but end up with high cholesterol if he eats eggs and bacon daily....
Exercise will lower your husbands blood sugar when his blood sugar is high.
QUOTE]


When I was diagnosed, my HDL cholesterol was only 23:eek:, LDL was 140...I began my low-carb dieting, fish oil tablets, exercise, chromium, red-wine and metformin, and 3 months later, my HDL had raised to 44 and LDL had went down 20 points..Total cholesterol remained within normal limits. I eat eggs/bacon about 3-4 times a week and drink protein shakes or S. Beach cereal bars the rest of the time. Also, if you don't want to do the eggs, try egg beaters and turkey bacon...they are yummy as well.
The main thing is find what works for you....if you try something for a month or even 3 months like I did, if your results aren't showing improvement, try something else. That's the beauty of these forums....there are lots of people trying lots of things that work for them...he'll find his as time goes by.

Also, there's a great book i'd recommend "Type II Diabetes the first year" by Gretchen Becker...easy to understand full of information written for T2 diabetics by a T2 diabetic...check it out!

[sweetcheeks]

well i dont eat it every day, and my dietician told to me eat round 600 a meal, so its not that much considering that is my biggest meal of the day.....

I was never told to watch my fat grams, just stay under the calorie limit and carb limit tis what im doing..... my bg averages around 96 for the past 30 days, so its not hurting my numbers any, and my cholesterol is in check. I dont see the problem.


i have done all the research before i eat anywhere thanks for the tip, but ill stick with what works for me

I will continue to eat the way I eat, as it seems to be working since ive lost 69lbs.

[notme]

Stacey, I think it is awsome that you have lost 69 pounds so far. It takes a lot of work and patience to lose weight.

My mother has lost 120 pounds doing no exercise and watching what she ate. However, she has also had a stroke and recently had quadruple bypass, so you can see, I am passionate about how much fat is in a diet and what kind of fat it is.

The type of fat taco bell or other fast food restaurant serves is not a good fat for your body. Fat from nuts, avacadoes and other whole foods are a necessary fat for our bodies.

I don't think anyone would argue that what you have done is amazing. I just think it is a bad idea to consume taco bell three times a week for health purposes in general. I am glad it is working for you and you are losing the weight that you want to lose. It is just my opinion that whole food and foods that are not made at a fast food restaurant are not the best foods to advise people to eat.

Good luck on your continued weight loss and great A1c's!

[jerryn]

Bad.. Stacey.. Bad! Here's what you need to do next time you go to Taco Bell. Pick up your food at Taco Bell, Measure your blood glucose before you eat. Measure your glucose 2hrs after you eat. I bet it will be over 160.. that's bad. When I was initially diagnose I was given targets to hit since I was at 327 when I was diagnosed. I still wonder why I wasn't on anything stronger than metrformin but whatever. Anyway my first goal when I got my a1c down to 7.3 was to no go higher than 180 after I ate. That involved following the glycemic index, measuring my blood before and 2hrs after. Now my goal is not over 160. I've limited my diet to pretty much steak (good steak though.. porterhouse, ribeye, tenderloin, nystrip) and brocolli, cauliflower stuff like that. no potatoes, corn or rice, or even bread ever!

So far the best place for me has been Outback. Chillis I spike
a little higher. So if I go out with my wife or friends it's either some seafood place (no fried anything) or outback.

[volleyball]

Why not bring food from home. they have coolers that plug in as well as cooking appliances. Bring of box of whole rain cereal such as Kashi and he can eat in his room. The money you save on not eating out will pay for the appliances

[HelenM]

Why not bring food from home. they have coolers that plug in as well as cooking appliances
Theres a lorry driver on diabetes stories who does just that.(one of the very few in the UK on insulin who has been able to keep his HGV licence) He puts all sorts in his fridge and makes meals as he goes along. Hes got a cooker and a microwave as well. He keeps enough supplies to be able to keep going even if hes stuck because of a strike or breakdown in a distant part of Europe. He also has a foldaway pushbike which he has in his cab for exercise at the end of the day.
Welcome to Diabetes Stories (http://www.diabetes-stories.co.uk/transcript.asp?UID=17)

[volleyball]

I read his story and you can tell he's a regular joe. Happy with his life. Must be scary for those truck drivers who are getting on in age and have no other skills. You loose your license and your job.
At lest the subject realizes that his diabetes has helped him live a better life. It seems most people over 35 don't exercise very much. Or they spend a few minutes at the gym. This guy works out because he has to and it is a great motivation.

[spirosway]

The best food to eat is salad....and eggs and meat if he dont want carbo....but carbo is very important for body....dont forget it!!!

[barbarac]

I do not figure protein in bolusing. I am not sure what you mean.

[did2007]

What I learned is that a meal consists of 60 or less carbs, and a snack consists of 30 or less carbs. It's kinda hard doing this traveling, just as long as you keep insulin pens around. (when I am about to travel, I ask my doctor if he'll give me a insulin pen with the needles and he'll give me one) Anyways, when you want to snack, i'd get some peanut butter and crackers or small bags of combos or cheezits. (Tip--If you have a membership at one of those warehouse clubs, get them in bulk. 36 small bags of cheezits are $7.08 at Sam's Club whereas 1 might cost you 65 cents at a rest stop vending machine) and for lunch, i'd get like a broiled chicken salad. You can get these at Wendy's, McD's, or a WM Supercenter for less than $5. And that usually keeps my blood glucose in check--maybe too low at times. I like that Smucker's nsa strawberry jelly that's like $2.28, but wal-mart's brand is like $1.50 and that may be worth a try.

As for breakfast, you can get a good quality breakfast at Waffle House (or Huddle House...I live in the South, there isn't many Huddle House's around, but a Waffle House every 1/2 mile) for like $5. Or better yet, find a Denny's where you can get low carb breakfasts with egg beaters instead of regular eggs. Subway also uses egg beaters in their breakfast sandwiches.

Now I may not be an expert, but one of those one touch ultra mini's would be a good thing to have as a trucker. I'd keep one of those carrying cases for your insulin needles, bottles, etc.

[did2007]

...of course, everybody's immune system works different. Some people need more carbs than others, so you do what's best for you.